I go to work to work and then go home. I calculate how much time my commute needs so I can maximize my free time and don’t waste time at the workplace before the shift begins. I don’t owe my employer any unpaid time.
I’m the only one who thinks like this: my coworkers are full in the “we are a family” vibe and some of them come 30 minutes before the shift begins, what to me is an extremely idiotic idea. Why being at the workplace more time than needed?
This is nursing and I need to hear report before working. Our second shift begins at 12:35 but some coworkers want to start it at 12:30, even to the point of giving report without me, which is fine as long as they give me report about my patients. Each of us has, theoretically, 3 minutes to change into scrubs, but this is also ignored. They expect me to be at 12:30 fully dressed and seated, ready for report. Union says 12:30 is the time I enter my unit and change into scrubs, so I start at 12:35. My coworkers simply don’t want to hear that shift begins at the hour it begins, the manager is passive.
Our union is very conflict avoidant.
I’m not the kind of person who does things like expected just because that’s how it’s always been done but if I question why I get yelled at. I like following the book because otherwise the manager’s favorites get away working less and blabbing more.
I don’t know if this is one of those situations where I should pick my battles and let it go. I feel they steal my free time.
And the union doesn’t care as much as I do.
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I don’t know if this is one of those situations where I should pick my battles and let it go. I feel they steal my free time.
Getting along in work environments is always a matter of which battles to pick and which compromises to make. You will always have to make some. To my mind, starting your shift five minutes early is a pretty minor concession to not irk your colleagues and get on everyone’s shit-list. But…you can always search for a new place to work. Just bear in mind you may be walking into an even less compatible environment for yourself.
About that family thing. If anyone ever tells you that “we are family” it means you can call them for help when you’re moving. If you have trouble configuring your router, call your new family for help. If you need to drill a hole in a concrete wall, but you do don’t have the right drill bits or other tools, call your new family.
If your boss doesn’t want to come over to drill some holes in a concrete wall on a Saturday afternoon, they’re not really family, and they can’t expect you to act like family either.
I wish I worked a job where my biggest concern was the difference between starting at 12:30 or 12:35.
It’s daily 5 minutes, but it sums up to an hour every 3 weeks (assuming a 5 days work week).
That extra 5 minutes is ~20hours and hundreds of dollars of unpaid labor a year. It seems to me that the coworkers are being very irresponsible in exposing their company to a potential lawsuit over something so minor. That doesn’t sound like being a team player to me.
Get a standalone voice dictation device list this $20 one:
- Walk in at 12:30 and set this while recording in front of the co-worker that starts their report at 12:30.
- Walk away and get changed into scrubs.
- Be ready for your shift at 12:35
- Sit down and press “play” and listen to the report
Everyone wins!
If you’re not getting paid for it, don’t do it. You’re not a volunteer. You’re an employee.
